[Advaita-l] Guidance of Guru.
Sanjay Srivastava
sksrivastava68 at hotmail.com
Mon Nov 22 08:22:33 CST 2004
Sri Ram wrote:
"You have said that it is better that a guru is sthothriya than a
brahmanishta as
there will be difficulties in communication from a brahmanishta.Though in a
way
it may appear as correct it may not serve the objective."
It may serve the objective to the extent that it will lead to a proper
teacher. I can say this from my personal experience. I spent lot of time
with Krishnamurthy Foundation. When you read Krishnamurthy, you get a
feeling that he is pointing to a higher truth. But ---and it is a big
"but"--- even after reading his hundred books or listening to him a thousand
times, you realize that you have not moved an inch closer to his vision. You
are still there where you started. Ask anyone who has followed Krishnamurthy
if he has now attained K's vision, and you will get the same answer. I
consider his as the classic case of a brahmanishtham but not shrotriyam. He
had the vision but could not convey him in absence of a method to convey. It
remained "goonge keree sarkaraa" as Kabir puts it. What K did to convey his
vision was to re-invent the wheel. He declared that all the traditions are
false. Truth can only be known through dialogue where a realized person puts
the words in form of a mirror and tried to develop his dialogue style.
Unfamiliar with the tradition of vedanta, he did not realize that this
method was utilized and perfected by vendantins over the centuries.
Moreover I consider K as brahmanishtham due to my personal association, but
I might be biased. I might simply be zapped by his personality! I have no
method to know. Ask anyone who has worked in a specialized field what the
best way is to judge a person's standing in that field. In variably they
will point to what his peers think about him. In case of K or anyone who is
not a sampradaayavid, there are no peers. Only bhaktas and adversaries. How
do you get an objective evaluation? If you go to rishikesh and keep your
eyes and ears open, within a month you will come to know what are the
strenghts of a particular swami. If you do not want to spend even that much
time just visit any of the muraari's shops( barbers- as they are called
there) in lower swargaashram area ---and ridiculous it may sound --- you get
a fairly accurate assessment of a swami's standing in his peers. It is an
invaluable plus when you are groping in the dark and life is short.
Regards,
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----Original Message Follows----
From: sriram <srirudra at vsnl.com>
Reply-To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta
<advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org>
To: advaita <ADVAITA-L at LISTS.ADVAITA-VEDANTA.ORG>
Subject: [Advaita-l] Guidance of Guru.
Date: Sun, 21 Nov 2004 20:18:18 +0530
Dear member
You have said that it is better that a guru is sthothriya than a
brahmanishta as there will be difficulties in communication from a
brahmanishta.Though ina way it may appear as correct it may not serve the
objective.It is for the disciple to dwelve at length what the Guru has said
and find for himself the true meaning of his utterances.For this the
disciple has to study the scriptures deeply and go on delving on the sayings
almost all the 24 hrs!When certain sayings of either the scriptures or the
Guru are not clear the disciple has to meditate on the unclear sayings with
a craving as to what has been conveyed.If he is sincere in this approach
definitely he will get at the truth.It may occur immediately or may take
more time.What I want to emphasise is that there should be absolute faith
and assiduously look forward to the correct meanings of the sayings.Vedantha
is a subjective science and every individual can not have the same under
standing even if it is explained at length like other physical sciences.This
is my personal experiance also.If you read Thirumanthiram you will find so
many mystic utterances but once you dwelve upon it you will get at the real
meaning as originally meant by Thirumoolar. Pranams,Krishnamoorthy.
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